Not all video encoders are created equal. And at the Streaming Media East show next week, you’ll learn how to evaluate the effectiveness of your H.264 encoder. See the real-world video outputs of top commercial H.264 encoders compared, including those from Telestream, Harmonic, Sorenson, and Adobe, as well as open-source options such as FFmpeg and x264. Learn what features you should have available in an encoding tool before you invest your organization’s budget in a solution.

It’s not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DR13, which gets you a two-day ticket to the show for only $695 and gives you access to 40 sessions and how-to presentations and 100+ speakers. You can also register for an exhibits only pass and get access to the show floor, both keynotes from CBS and ESPN and all the networking events, at no charge. #smeast

If you want to learn how to make a broadcast channel from VOD assets and the methods for distributing live streams to desktops and portable devices for all co-viewing opportunities, then don’t miss the Streaming Media East show next week. Vevo and Level 3 will walk you through the process of turning your video on demand (VOD) library into an online broadcast channel in a presentation entitled, “How To: Using File-Based Workflows With Live Streaming To Replicate The Linear Television Experience.” Get detailed specifics on encoding, leveraging your CMS to integrate metadata, how to set up a playlist mechanism, and how to turn the file-based encodes into live HD streaming.

It’s not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DR13, which gets you a two-day ticket to the show for only $695 and gives you access to 40 sessions and how-to presentations and 100+ speakers. You can also register for an exhibits only pass and get access to the show floor, both keynotes from CBS and ESPN and all the networking events, at no charge. #smeast

For the past four years, Peter Csathy has been the CEO of Sorenson Media and this morning, he announced that he is moving on to a new company and is now the CEO of Manatt Digital Media Ventures. His new group is a division of Manatt Digital Media, a full-service digital media professional services business for entrepreneurs, ranging from individuals to companies of every size and stage –- start-up, growth, mature public. (Check our their clients page here)

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, is one of the most respected and storied law firms for the media, entertainment and advertising industries. Manatt’s roots run deep in the centers of media, entertainment, advertising and technology — in Los Angeles, New York, and Silicon Valley — and Peter’s background as a former M&E lawyer makes him a perfect fit for his new role. Peter will continue to work with Sorenson as a board member but is officially in his new role starting today as a VC, business connector, negotiator and deal-maker.

As Peter says on his blog announcing his new role, “Attention all you digital media entrepreneurs out there, PITCH ME!”, so if you are looking to raise money, you might want to give Peter a call.

Thursday May 16th at 2pm ET, I’ll be moderating another StreamingMedia.com webinar on the topic of, “Working in the Cloud With Video.” The cloud offers huge power for video publishers, but still has specific challenges that require the right architecture to overcome. This webinar gives best practices for designing an efficient and cost-effective approach to the video workflow, whether the challenge is to stream a corporate event from a remote facility or massive libraries containing thousands of clips. It seems everywhere you look, vendors are talking about Cloud. But what does it mean to the world of video, and does it pertain to your job?

Join MediaPlatform, Haivision, Limelight and Harmonic and learn the here-and-now implications of cloud platforms:

• What exactly goes into putting together a cloud solution?
• How cloud transcoding creates business flexibility
• The benefits of “Managed Transcoding Services”
• Simplify your live and on-demand content publishing workflows with integrated end-to-end solutions
• Complete your ecosystem with live encoding, file transcoding, media management, publishing, and real-time analytics

We’ll have a full Q&A session in which your questions will be answered and as always, all StreamingMedia.com webinars are free. So register here and save the date for this instructional webinar.

With the introduction of adaptive streaming formats, a growing number of IP-enabled streaming boxes, and the proliferation of handheld devices, content owners face increasing challenges for multi-screen content preparation. At the Streaming Media East show, taking place next week, May 21-22 in NYC, we’ve got a session that will analyze the key components of file-based transcoding and will talk practically about converting content for multi-screen delivery. Learn how to encode content for each device, the algorithm choices/trade-offs, codec settings, and the particular requirements of various distribution platforms. Confirmed speakers include:

• Moderator: Tony Lapolito, Director, Product Management, Cisco
• Kevin Louden, Product Manager, Telestream
• Tatum Lade, Head of R&D, Boxee
• Jeff Malkin, President, Encoding.com
• Gonzalo de la Vega, CEO, NicePeopleAtWork

It’s not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DR13, which gets you a two-day ticket to the show for only $695 and gives you access to 40 sessions and how-to presentations and 100+ speakers. You can also register for an exhibits only pass and get access to the show floor, both keynotes from CBS and ESPN and all the networking events, at no charge. #smeast

On Monday May 20th, at the Content Delivery Summit in NYC, (#cdnsummit) Amazon will show off the latest developments with their Dynamic Site Delivery offering. Amazon will demonstrate how you can use Amazon CloudFront to help architect your site to deliver both static and dynamic content. Attendees will also learn how they can configure multiple origin servers for their Amazon CloudFront distribution; use query string parameters to help customize their web pages for each viewer and how content owners can configure multiple cache behaviors, based on URL patterns on their website. Amazon’s goal is to make dynamic site delivery affordable, easy to configure and manage and provide  more options for content owners looking for reliable delivery of dynamic assets.

Now in its fifth year, the Content Delivery Summit is a one-day conference designed to bring together telecom carriers, service providers, content owners, and industry vendors for a detailed look at CDN platforms for the delivery of video and content acceleration. Readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DR13, which gets you a ticket to the show for only $395.

If you want to learn the tips and tricks of how to encode video for iDevices, then you don’t want to miss Jan Ozer’s how-to session at the Streaming Media East show next week. Jan’s session starts by detailing the playback specs for all iDevices, old and new. Then you’ll learn the strategies used by prominent iTunes publishers to serve the complete range of installed iDevices. Next, the seminar switches to cellular wireless delivery, with a technical description of Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), including recommendations for the number of streams and Apple’s encoding parameters. You’ll walk away knowing how to encode for both iTunes and mobile delivery to iOS and compatible devices.

It’s not too late to get a pass to the show and readers of my blog can register using my own personal discount code of DR13, which gets you a two-day ticket to the show for only $695 and gives you access to 40 sessions and how-to presentations and 100+ speakers. You can also register for an exhibits only pass and get access to the show floor, both keynotes from CBS and ESPN and all the networking events, at no charge. #smeast